PS Vita Was ‘Really Designed As A PS4 Sister Device’ – Sony

As great as the PS Vita is there’s no doubting that the handheld console has struggled to maintain much of an audience, and has failed to really pair up with the PS3 as initially advertised.

But that’s because the PS Vita was never built to pair with the PS3 and, instead, to work with the PS4 – even before the next-gen console was announced.

Speaking with Sony’s UK and Ireland managing director Fergal Gara, it was revealed to NowGamer that the PS Vita was always intended to work alongside the PS4, and not the PS3.

“The thing we couldn’t really explain when the Vita came out was that it was really designed to be a sister device for the PS4,” said Gara in an interview at Gamescom, “and work far more in sync with it, for obvious reasons.

“So while there are some exciting cross-play features between the Vita and PS3, they’re fewer and further between, and not as easy to develop.

“Whereas with the PS4 there really is able to be much more integrated design, making it that much easier to bring together.”

Gara added that Remote Play is a big feature for the PS4 that wasn’t as easy to get working on PS3.

“Remote gameplay is an example,” said Gara,” where the way the PS4 is used, makes it absolutely critical for a developer to work on Vita.

“We’ve got that feature for every game with one slight caveat which is if there is if some design or key feature which is a requirement for the PS4 game that cannot be replicated on the Vita but I don’t think any of the launch titles are in that space so they’ll all be there day one, which is great.”